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Study: Schools becoming more segregated
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- A dozen years after the Supreme Court made it easier for public schools to escape court-ordered desegregation plans, black and Hispanic students across the country are increasingly less likely to learn side-by-side with their white counterparts, according to the findings of a study released Sunday. Although minority students in the South and West, the regions with the largest minority populations, attend the most integrated public schools, so-called "resegregation" is occurring faster there than in other regions, according to researchers at Harvard University's Civil Rights Project. The study also found that among minority groups, Hispanic students attend the least-integrated schools; Asian students, the most integrated. White students were the most segregated overall, attending schools that, on average, were 80 percent white. In the 2000-2001 school year, the average student body of a Hispanic student's school had a white population of about 28 percent; for blacks, the figure was about 31 percent, according to the study, which was based on statistics provided by local school systems to the U.S. Department of Education. In 1987, the average student body of a black student's school was 37 percent white, about 6 percentage points higher than it was in 2000. The white percentage in the average Hispanic student's school fell by about the same percentage during the same period, according to the study. Also, more than a third of black and Hispanic students attended a school with a minority population of more than 90 percent, the study found. Census figures for 2000 show that the nation's non-Hispanic white population was 69 percent; the black and Hispanic populations were both about 12 percent. The study found minority student enrollment was nearly 40 percent, almost twice the percentage in the 1960s. U.S. 'has been going backward'"The country has been going backward toward greater resegregation in all parts of the country for more than a decade," said the study's authors, who argue not only for retaining existing integration programs but also for expanding inner-city-to-suburban programs to increase diversity. "Since the end of the Civil Rights era, there has been no significant leadership towards the goal of creating a successfully integrated society built on integrated schools and neighborhoods," the authors said. "Race matters strongly. Racial segregation almost always accompanies segregation by poverty and many forms of related inequality." The study notes that Asians, the minority group most likely to attend integrated schools, are the most highly educated racial group, while Hispanics have the highest high school dropout rate. Asians also live in the most integrated neighborhoods, while Hispanics tend to be more isolated by geography and language, the study said. In 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that school districts that had complied with court-ordered desegregation orders and done everything feasible to eliminate the effects of prior discrimination could get out from under court supervision, even if racial disparities still existed. Many districts have taken advantage of the ruling to end court-ordered desegregation programs and resume sending children to schools in their neighborhoods. The study's authors contend that has contributed to increased segregation of schools, particularly in the South. In 1988, the percentage of black students in majority-white schools in the South peaked at more than 43 percent. By 2000, that figure had fallen to 31 percent -- lower than it was in 1970, the study found. Demographic changes play roleThe study's authors conceded that demographic changes in the United States, particularly the fact that the white percentage of the population is decreasing, also play a factor in the decrease in integration. As the percentages of black and Hispanic students in the population increase, "there would tend to be fewer whites in the average African-American or Latino student's school," the study said. High private school enrollment, particularly in the South, also contributes to the decline in integration in public schools by decreasing the white population, the study found -- and white students attending private schools learn in an even more racially segregated environment than their public school counterparts. The study also took a state-by-state look at racial diversity in public schools. In New Mexico, the average white student attended a school where nearly 42 percent of the student body was Hispanic or black, the highest percentage of any state. Delaware, South Carolina, Texas and California were the only other states where that figure was higher than 30 percent. The study found that black students in New York and California were least likely to attend a majority-white school, while those in Michigan and New York were most likely to attend a school with a minority population of more than 90 percent. New York and California were the states where Hispanic students were least likely to attend a majority-white school, and New York and Texas were the states where they were most likely to attend a school with a minority population of more than 90 percent.
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